Raygun just got the Netflix documentary treatment, and the meme machine is firing up again

Two years after one Olympic breakdancing routine turned Rachael Gunn into the internet's favourite punching bag, Netflix has decided we all need a rewatch. Untold: Raygun, Breaking Badly landed on the streamer on 1 September, and the memes are already back in circulation.

The documentary is the latest instalment in Netflix's Untold sports series, the same strand that turns athlete sagas and scandals into bingeable television. This one traces Gunn's path from Sydney academic and breakdancing lecturer to the most mocked athlete of the 2024 Paris Games, and back again.

What it reveals is less flattering for everyone else involved than for Gunn herself.

According to the documentary, she went into the Olympics badly under-resourced, without the coaching support most competitors take for granted. That context got lost fast in 2024, buried under an avalanche of memes and conspiracy theories claiming she had somehow rigged her own selection onto the Australian team.

None of that was true, but it did not need to be. The internet had decided Raygun was a joke, and two years on it clearly has not finished laughing. Early reactions to the documentary are split. Some reviewers reckon it is a sympathetic and overdue correction. Others, including a pointed take from Slate, argue the framing lets everyone off too easily for how badly Gunn was treated the first time around.

Either way, Netflix has done the one thing guaranteed to keep a meme alive: put its subject back in front of a camera. Expect a fresh round of reaction videos, hot takes and "go rewatch the original clip" threads to follow this documentary around for weeks.

If you missed the original chaos in 2024, or just want the full story behind one of the most memeable moments in Olympic history, Untold: Raygun, Breaking Badly is streaming now on Netflix. Watch it before your group chat starts sending you the same three clips again.